


A Boy and His Car: Nico's Side

by Mathais



Series: A Boy and His Car [3]
Category: Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-13
Updated: 2010-12-13
Packaged: 2017-10-15 01:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/155434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mathais/pseuds/Mathais
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there was one thing Nico was good at, it was revenge. And babble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Boy and His Car: Nico's Side

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers and the things associated with it; they belong to Saban.
> 
> This story is heavily influenced by [AM83220](http://www.fanfiction.net/u/963735/AM83220), who acted as my soundboard and plot-bunny spawner. He also gave me a direction to take this piece in, and a lot of the scene comes from his ideas. He's so evil too! Do you know how many plot bunnies he's cooked up for me? I'm dying here under the onslaught! Go read his "[The Icarus Reversal](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5386739/1/The_Icarus_Reversal)" if you have time! It starts off dark and gritty, but it gets better, and best of all—it features Justin! If he's one of your favorite characters, it's a must read!

Nico drew stares as he paraded down to the Surf Spot with a backpack bulging to the brim with feathers. Every so often, one escaped to drift lazily to the ground, but he didn't care.

Oh no, this would be glorious.

Letting loose a cackle that caused nearby pedestrians to flinch, Nico shifted the buckets he held in his hands and whistled cheerfully as he continued on.

No one could stop him. He even promised Adelle he'd do all of the clean up after! She gave him the evil eye, sure, and frowned disapprovingly, but she made no other attempts to make him stop so he figured that he was in the clear.

Not that it would have stopped him, really, but it was one less obstacle.

His revenge was at hand.

Well, technically not his—it was revenge for someone else. But, really, it was totally his revenge! Maybe he was getting revenge for the trouble they caused him by making his friend all pouty and emo...? No, that'd make him a bad friend, wouldn't it?

He shouldn't think like that.

He promptly decided that this was payback for making him cry. Because they're the ones who made his friend react like that, which made him cry, so, really, it was completely their fault. And if it made Justin smile again, then that was just a side benefit.

He totally wasn't doing this for Justin. Not at all.

This was revenge for the indignity he'd suffered!

...the indignity of having been seen in tears with snot trailing out of his nose, maybe, but indignity all the same!

This time, Nico's cackle was maybe a touch sheepish, and people went from flinching to staring at him instead, but he was used to it. Except, really, he should have been watching the road, because in the middle of a perfectly good cackle, he tripped over an upraised section of the sidewalk.

Stupid sidewalk, getting in the way of his dramatic laughter. You just didn't do that! He should come back with a mallet or something.

But that didn't help him as he was tripping ass over teakettle trying desperately to balance the load in his arms.

"Fffffff—" the curse stilled on his lips when strong arms righted him, though a few lemon drops managed to escape from his buckets. Looking up at his savior, the thanks on his lips died in a similar manner when he actually _looked_.

Adam was saying something, but Nico was far too busy fighting the wave of dread that swamped him.

No—! He couldn't be here! Not with the evidence of his not-set-up-prank!

One of the cardinal rules of a prankster—never get caught! Plausible (or, at times, implausible with a hint of cash) deniability! No matter how many witnesses _saw_ him carrying all this stuff, no one could ever prove it was him! Not with the "art" sculpture he had at home containing all the ingredients. People were supposed to look at it and then pat him on the head, saying he'd done a good job in that strange voice he'd heard from people the last time he'd tried doing "art" with gumdrops, frosting, and copious, copious amounts of bubble wrap.

But it's all ruined now! His target was onto him! His target... who was speaking to him. "—Nico...? Nico? Are you all right?"

Wait, he had an out! Plausible deniability! And one of the fallback plans of any prankster!

Distract, Nico! Distract like you've never distracted before!

"Hi Adam!" he chirped. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. You all right there? You were kind of... dazed. You been eating enough?" Adam asked, looking him up and down.

Hey, who was he calling some scrawny wimp who could barely hold himself up? He had actual muscle now! He'd fought hard for that muscle!

  
**OoOoO**   


Nico stared warily at the machines around him. They were kind of... imposing. And big. And there were all these huge guys always crowded around them whose arms were wider than his legs.

It made a guy feel inadequate. He had this urge to stick out his tongue and release a glitter bomb.

Nico nearly set one off anyway when, even over the din of metal hitting metal, there was a loud crash. Just barely stopping himself from doing so (because, really, even if he was good at hiding the bomb itself, he wasn't so hot at setting it off unnoticed), Nico grimaced.

"You don't have to be here, you know," Justin said, his tone dry.

Nico shook his head rapidly. "No, no. I want to be here!" Stupid muscle heads on steroids with their giant arms and chests aside. But Justin was _here_ so _here_ was where he intended to be.

A ghost of a smile crossed Justin's face, disappearing as quickly as it had come. "Thanks."

Stunned silent for a moment, Nico could only gape and nod. Averting his eyes when Justin began to change (though he cried inside when he saw how buff Justin was compared to him—really, not fair at all!), Nico himself started changing into some loose clothes when Justin asked, "Do you have a workout routine?"

A workout routine...? People actually planned this stuff? Oh wait, like soccer drills.

Duh.

"Ah, no, I think I'll just... follow you?"

"You sure? I mean, I'm not a beginner at this, and..."

No, no. Nico would _not_ be a burden. "It's totally fine! I'll just do what you do!"

Justin shrugged, and that same ghost smile appeared again as he said, "All right. We're going to start with a quick run."

Right. Running. That was something he could do, bless his interest in soccer. Nico grinned and nodded as he followed Justin toward the indoor track.

Nearly ten minutes later, Nico felt like he was dying. No, the burning, the pain! Where had his adrenaline gone?

He decided that all those overly muscled steroid monsters must have stolen it. Stupid, evil adrenaline-stealing muscle jocks. He should leave a surprise for taking all his energy from him. But, first, he had to catch his breath.

Oh god, his lungs were on fire. Back against the cool ground, he nearly glared when Justin, traces of faint amusement on his face, filled his vision.

"You all right there, Nico?"

Or maybe it was Justin who took it. Evil Justin who stole all his energy, probably to set that punishing pace. Damn him for barely even breathing hard while he suffered on the ground.

Dammit. And Justin was one of the people he couldn't take revenge on. Damn it all. Especially because he needed Justin's help to complete his plans for world domination. Everyone with designs on the world needed a mad scientist after all. For some quality of mad at any rate. It was not that he was a friend and he had this thing about pranking on friends (especially friends who could probably see it coming from a mile away) but the principle of the matter.

"Hey, Nico...?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Nico said when Justin's words finally made their way to his ears. "Um, I just..."

That same ghost of a smile appeared again, backed by genuine amusement, as Justin offered his hand. Nico took it gratefully and got to his feet. Now that he had his wind back, of course, it was easier. He had awesome recovery times! "So, what's next?"

"Mhm," Justin looked considering for a moment before he nodded. "To the barbells then."

Nico listened with rapt attention as Justin demonstrated how to do the barbell curls properly with a light weight. As Nico took over from him, gingerly taking it in hand, he focused on doing each rep correctly, curling his arm in and then fully extended his limb as he dropped the weight.

Once he was done, he nearly dropped the barbell when he saw Justin doing the exact same exercise with a bigger, way bigger, weight. As he watched Justin's biceps bulge, all he could think was—unfair! Totally unfair! He totally didn't look it, but Justin was packed with really dense muscle that he hid with loose clothing.

Damn him. Damn him and his stupid muscles. Maybe he should take up martial arts as well if it got him those.

But wait... Maybe Justin could do a muscle job too when he conquered the world. Even mad scientists need breaks too! It'd save some salary money too, if he was one of the head guards too (but he promised that position to Kayla, right? Or did she want head torturer?). Oh wait, Justin was finishing now.

When Justin put his weight onto the ground, Nico asked, "How come my weight's so much smaller than yours?"

Justin looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, "Well, when you first start out, the most important thing is getting the form down right. Once you have that, you can move onto the heavier weights."

Looking down at his own weight, which had to be at least twenty pounds lighter than Justin's, Nico had to concede that point. Picking it up again and working on his new set, Nico then figured that maybe, once he got used to it, he could use weights that were close to Justin's!

He discreetly peered at Justin's arms and then compared it to his own.

Yeah, and maybe pigs would fly (oh wait, wasn't there a monster who did that?), the moon would have an atmosphere (ah, he forgot about Rita and Zedd), and he could do a triple backflip (he could only do one. Well, one-and-a-half, and he was proud of it! Just, maybe not the bruises from it).

Nico grumbled as he finished his sets and the following exercises, aided only by his musings about whether Justin would even have the time to complete his death ray (all overlords needed death rays, right?) if he worked as a chief guard as well. The thought, combined with wondering if he would be able to take out the Power Rangers (he personally was a huge fan of Blue Turbo and might not be quite so willing to fight him if he ever came back) when they inevitably challenged his rule, helped him through the next couple of exercises. At their end, his arms felt like they were going to fall off—well, they would feel like such after he regained some feeling in them at any rate.

"Okay," Justin finally declared, "we're going to finish with bench presses."

Just when Nico was going to ask, Justin led him over to one of the benches. This time, Justin didn't bother to set any weights as he lay down on the bench. "Watch closely, all right? This is what you do."

Nico watched as Justin pumped the bar slowly up and down, touching his chest each time. Well, it looked kind of easy, right? It didn't look too hard. When Nico lay down on the bench, he saw Justin move behind him and began correcting his positioning. When it was to Justin's satisfaction, Nico reached up and performed the same exercise, with light weights attached to each end.

He rethought his actions when he actually completed the exercise. The first few reps were all right, but they quickly bled into pure torture afterward. Torture! Only one set in, and his chest was burning. Again, he looked in jealousy as Justin added some more weight and began his own set. He almost envied Justin's slow, steady reps and deep concentration; God knew that he himself could rarely focus on one thing before he moved onto another—plans for his domination on Earth aside.

When he swapped in, he barely managed to complete his second set, and during his third, his arms just refused to move. The first couple went by all right, but around the middle of his set, it just wouldn't work. He pushed and pushed and pleaded, because he really needed to show Justin that he could do this. If he could do this, then Justin wouldn't—

It was one more place he could be with him.

"One more," he whispered to himself. "Just one more. You can do it, Nico."

Nico almost didn't hear it; the voice was that soft. But accompanying his litany was a faint voice that said, "Just raise your arms a little higher. You can do it. Just _push_."

Was that—? In spite of the pain and exhaustion, Nico began to grin a touch maniacally. Oh yes, it was. Justin, who had barely given him an encouraging word the entire time, was saying he could do it. Justin... Did Justin believe in him? Oh hell yes—he'd take this and run.

Nico pushed and pushed with all his strength and managed to complete his final rep. Exhausted enough to need Justin's help to rack the weight, he took a moment to let it all soak in. His arms hurt. His chest burned. He was covered in sweat.

But he felt good. Very good. Dead tired though. So very tired, maybe Justin wouldn't mind if he took a nap...?

Nico shook his head wildly. No no, bad place to sleep.

By the time Justin finished his own set and said that they were finished, the final adrenaline rush had faded from Nico. He couldn't... He was so tired. He dragged his feet as he headed back to the lockers to change. Nico found that he could barely muster the energy to speak.

It wasn't a comforting feeling, but...

It could be far worse.

Once the two of them were outside, Nico had only one to say.

"When's the next time you're going?"

Justin looked struck dumb at the question. But, for once, Nico was serious. He was tired as hell, yes, but if this was where Justin was, then this is where he'd be.

And he knew it was the right choice when Justin actually smiled. Not just one of those weak things he gave every so often, but a true smile.

  
**OoOoO**   


"Nico!"

Nico snapped out of his flashback so violently that he almost upturned himself once more, saved again only by Adam's hand.

"I'm fine. I'm totally fine!" Nico said. "I'm working on some art!"

Ah, there was that look again. Nico vaguely remembered showing Adam one of his old projects, so that might have some sort of meaning.

"That's, erm, good." Adam blinked and shook his head. "Anyway, watch where you're going next time."

"No problem!" Nico grinned. "What are you doing anyway?"

"I'm out shopping and then I'm heading over to the Surf Spot." Adam glanced down at this watch, which was awesome because Nico wasn't sure if any hint of his plans made it onto his face—his poker face needed a bit of work. "I need to get going though."

"I'll see you later!" Nico waved one arm despite the bucket still in hand and continued on his way as the poor, poor fool left.

But, yay, the distraction worked! Nico couldn't help the grin that crossed his face, the sight of which caused Justin to flinch when Nico met up with him not long after.

"Um, should I start running now?" Justin asked, wary.

"Oh, no, not you!" Trust Justin to misunderstand his smile, but Nico was undeterred! After all, his target remained unaware, and the subject of his secondary ( _secondary_ , he told himself. Pranksters were good at distracting themselves too) objective was right here.

"Does this have anything to do with why you wanted to head to the Surf Spot with me?" Wariness was still prevalent in his voice, but Nico noted that there was a faint... affection (maybe?) hidden underneath. But that was all right!

"Yes, yes it does."

"...and the camera?"

"Totally worth it."

Justin was silent for a few moments as they walked. Finally, finally, a grin crossed his lips as Nico's proved to be too infectious.

At the sight of it, any of his doubts disappeared.

Oh, yes, this would be glorious! And so, so worth it.


End file.
